Members of the All Progressives Congress caucus have suspended their plan to force Senator Bukola Saraki to resign as President of the Senate, or plot his impeachment, The PUNCH reliably learnt on Tuesday.
Reliable sources disclosed to our correspondent that both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party caucuses, who had been at daggers drawn over who controls the Senate, had resolved to suspend the infighting as both parties had failed some of their members in the chamber.
Sources from both camps told our correspondent that senators who lost out in the primaries held by the two dominant parties had resolved to stop defending the interests of their parties in the chamber.
There has been a power tussle between members of the APC and PDP in the Senate and House of Representatives over which party now has the majority, following defections by lawmakers.
The power play had become worse when Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, defected from the APC to the PDP.
The APC caucuses in both chambers had asked Saraki and Dogara to resign as Senate President and Speaker, respectively, or be impeached when the lawmakers resumed from recess.
A source in the Saraki/PDP camp, in a message to our correspondent, said senators had agreed “to give peace a chance.”
The source said, “The Senate today reconvened after about two months recess and immediately went into a closed session where all members had frank discussions about the future of the 8th Senate as it goes into its last stage.
“The members agreed to give peace a chance and avoid allowing the Red Chamber of the federal legislature to degenerate into an arena of conflict over partisan and personal issues.
“The APC caucus leadership also extracted a promise from SP (Senate President) that national interest will continue to take precedence over any other consideration in the activities of the Senate.”
“The senators agreed not to allow external forces and influence to cause disaffection, disturbance or crisis within the legislature.”
Another source in the same camp said, “They (APC/Buhari camp) extracted a promise from Saraki to cooperate with the government and not allow partisan politics to come in. Everybody has agreed that the status quo should remain and not allow external forces to destabilise the Senate.
“They are not happy. How many of them attended the meeting (held somewhere in Abuja on Monday night)? They were not many. Those of them who got party tickets are so exhausted financially and physically. Those who did not get tickets are not happy. It is at this stage that we can now ask their aggrieved members to join us, which will not be good for them.”
In the APC/Buhari camp, a prominent member who spoke on the condition of anonymity admitted that some of their members were aggrieved for losing party tickets.
